Do the Pennsylvania Game Commissioners ever bother to read the many peer reviewed articles on the impact of Coyotes and Black Bears on Deer???????????...If they did, they would not be contemplating wasting $4 million of taxpayer funds over the next 5 years to come up with some type of rationale to kill off these carnivores...................Week after week, there are studies revealing that significantly more than the historical pre-colonial 6 to 12 deer per square mile are easily maintained when enough viable forest and field habitat exists in a given locale...............Deer used to contend with Wolves, Pumas and Black Bears across the East...............The only predator that ever killed off and exterminated deer was man!.................... Calvin DuBrock, director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Wildlife Management states--- "What I'm hearing from our customers is look, commissioners, you can do whatever you want, just give me more deer".............THIS IS SO, SO, SO WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-------The optimization of the diversity of the Penn fauna and flora is not taken into account at all by Mr Dubrock..............I call this a blatant failure!.................Wake up Sir............there is no reason to kill Carnivores in Pennsylvania...............Manage your female deer effectively,,,,,,,,,,,keep deer yards viable,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and even with occasional tough winters, Deer will more than thrive in your state

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Deer-predator study price tag of nearly $4 million shocks Pennsylvania Game Commissioners

Responding to requests from the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners, commission staff on Monday presented a proposal for a $3.9 million, five-year study to determine the impact of reducing predator populations on the survival of white-tailed deer fawns.

If commissioners decide to move ahead with the study, said Christopher Rosenberry, supervisor of the commission's deer and elk section, researchers would attempt to answer three questions: Does a reduction in bear and/or coyotes lead to more fawns surviving through the summer and fall, and into the hunting seasons? Would the reduction of fawn predation by bears simply lead to more predation by coyotes, and vice versa? And, can the needed predator reductions be achieved through hunting, trapping and other control methods?

To answer those questions, three study areas of 150 square miles centered on large public lands open to hunting would be established in Wildlife Management Unit 2G in northcentral Pennsylvania. On the species being studied in those three study areas, researchers and technicians would deploy the latest in research methods, including radio-telemetry, DNA sampling and more.

Commissioner James Jay Delaney, who asked commission biologists to develop a proposal for the study at the April meeting, was surprised by the nearly $4 million price tag.

However, said Rosenberry, "I can't sit here and justify a fawn survival study" to replicate results already developed the commission's 2001 fawn survival study. "We've been told by the board that they wanted a large study. More study areas. More techs on the ground to tag more fawns."

Commissioner Ronald Weaner said, "I want to see the answers, but it does seem like an incredible amount of money." He questioned whether federal funds might be used for some of the work and learned that it might be possible."We're always talking about deer," noted Commissioner Ralph Martone. "If we can get definitive answers, then it's money well spent."

Noting that commission statistics show stable fawn to doe ratios across the state, Rosenberry said, "I can't sit here and tell you there's a problem that needs to be addressed. Specifically what is the problem you want us to address? Is a social problem? Is it a biological problem?"

Several commissioners appear to be hopeful of eventually finding the study and results that will answer the majority of criticisms of the commission's deer management program by some hunters and legislators.

However, Calvin DuBrock, director of the commission's Bureau of Wildlife Management, noted, "What I'm hearing from our customers is 'Look, commissioners, you can do whatever you want, just give me more deer.'"

Commissioner David Putnam brought the discussion to a temporary finish by suggesting that the proposal be placed back on the agenda for the next working group meeting and monitor public comment on the proposal submitted between now and then.